Haro

The name Haro most likely derives from a lighthouse — a faro — that once guided river traffic at the mouth of the Oja-Tirón into the Ebro, a theory advanced by local historian Domingo Hergueta. The area was settled by the Berones people, and during Roman times a defensive fort, Castrum Bilibium, stood on the rocky heights of Bilibio. The town's first written mention comes from 1040, in a document by the Navarrese king García Sánchez III, who granted "Bilibium cum Faro" to his wife Estefanía. By 1063 there is already a record of a Jewish community in the town.

Alfonso VI of León gave Haro to Diego López I, Lord of Vizcaya, around 1093, and the town passed through the hands of successive noble families. Alfonso VIII granted Haro its municipal charter on 15 May 1187, secured through the intercession of Diego López II, and confirmed again in 1254 by Alfonso X. Alfonso VIII also issued a separate charter to Haro's substantial Jewish community, whose members were made responsible for maintaining and defending the castle.

That castle met a violent end in 1288. After Sancho IV murdered Lope Díaz III of Haro, loyalists and townspeople took refuge inside it. Sancho laid siege for over two months, then sacked the town, demolished the walls, and briefly renamed the place Villabona. The Jewish community suffered the heaviest losses and lost privileges and property for having defended the castle.

In 1430, Juan II of Castile awarded Haro to Pedro Fernández de Velasco with the title of Count of Haro. That family held lordship over the town until 1811, when the Cortes de Cádiz abolished such seigneurial rights across Spain. In 1520 the townspeople rose against the privileges of the Count of Haro and the Flemish merchants favoured by Carlos I.

Haro's old town was declared a protected historic-artistic ensemble in April 1975. It was once fully walled, with three gateways; two of the original arches survived into the twenty-first century. The Puerta de San Bernardo, on the Plaza de la Paz, was formerly called the Puerta del Portillo, and received a statue of Saint Bernard in August 2007. The Puerta de Santa Bárbara, on Calle Siervas de Jesús, had been partly buried beneath a house built over it before rehabilitation works uncovered it.

The Plaza de la Paz is considered the heart of the city. It contains the town hall, the Puerta de San Bernardo, and the Palacio de Bendaña — also called the Palacio Paternina — a Renaissance plateresque building with a Mudéjar gallery of interlaced stars and flowers, described as unique in La Rioja, and originally taken from the Monastery of La Estrella in San Asensio. Fully restored in 2013, it now houses the tourist office.

The Palacio de los Salazar, on Calle de la Paz, is built in dressed stone in the Spanish Renaissance style and marks the transition from the ornamental richness of the plateresque toward the austerity of the Herreran style. It was declared a Monument of Cultural Interest in February 2002. The Palacio de los Condes de Haro, on the Plaza de la Iglesia, has a Renaissance plan with Baroque ornament and was restored in 2006. The Palacio de Tejada on Calle Lucrecia Arana is Rococo in style.

A former Augustinian convent, founded in 1373, has had an eventful afterlife: it served successively as a house of charity, hospital, school, prison, and bus station before becoming a four-star hotel in 1989. Next to it, the Teatro Bretón de los Herreros opened in 1841.

Haro is small enough to cover entirely on foot, though visiting the surrounding wineries is easier by bike, car, or taxi. The town is roughly two hours by road from the port of Santander and about three hours from Pau Pyrénées Airport across the border in France, making it a practical first stop if you are crossing the Pyrenees from the French side. Tapas bars occupy many of the courtyards tucked into the old town's narrow alleyways, and wine is available throughout the bar-lined lanes running from the main square.